Laramie's Disease

When I first enrolled at UW I thought I was in for the time of my life. Little did I know I had signed a four year contract to hell! If you check the list of the 50 worst colleges, I am sure you would see descriptions that fit Laramie.

I think that UW should implement more night time activities for college students. I have been going to UW for nearly four years and I can say that the night life in this town goes through very noticeable cycles. After the first two weeks of school, you have essentially seen every night scene that this town has to offer. The problem that I have found is that there is no variation in the people that you encounter. This can turn what is supposed to be a rich college experience into a dull one.

Laramie Face Syndrome

If you observe your average UW student’s face, when they are not aware, you may see something that I like to call ‘Laramie Face Syndrome’ or LFS. LFS is the phenomenon that occurs when a person has spent too much time in Laramie. In short, LFS is when a person’s face is permanently fixed in a slight frown instead of a slight smirk. The frown comes from the constant boredom that Laramie forces you to endure because of its lack of variety. 

As explained earlier, after you visit the same places week after week, you fall into a particular circle of people. Once in this circle of people, it is very difficult to meet new friends or do something different and more exciting unless you leave Laramie. This unchanging of pace is what causes a person to doubt the quality of their life and after so much of this doubting a person will exhibit signs of LFS.We can stop this infectious spreading of LFS! 

If the number of social places in Laramie were increased then the number of people suffering from LFS would decrease. While reading an article in the Boomerang I found that Hookah bars are illegal in Laramie. Why this is so, I have no idea. I am from Austin, Texas, a very big college town and there are numerous Hookah bars near campus. Why are these bars near campus? They are there simply to give students yet another place to go and socialize.

UW also has possibly the worst Greek programs I’ve come across. I heard from a friend in one of the houses that they are under strict rules because of alcohol related issues. Thinking about the number of underage students that drink, it sounds reasonable. But these people will still drink illegally and now instead of walking across the street and being safe, they drive around town looking for a place to socialize. Greek life is something that college students are supposed to experience and love. I know people who haven’t been to a UW Greek house once in their college life.

Last but not least I think that UW needs to work on getting more famous or even upcoming musicians, all genres, to come and preform on our campus. It will give students something to look forward to. It gives them a reason to be excited about an upcoming weekend. So when Friday rolls around there is actually something to do instead of drowning in alcohol because of boredom.

UW has the potential to be a wonderful school and environment. This close knit community could work with a little revision. It is 2012 and I feel as if Laramie is stuck in 1990. There are new ways to attract students and make them satisfied with their college experience. Students would rather spend more money and be in Fort Collins simply because there is more to do. This should be taken as a sign! Laramie has the potential to revert from being a depressing place and turn into one of the best colleges in America. There is a cure for LFS, we don't have to live with it.

Leaving Afghanistan

The US Army has spent years in Afghanistan and have nothing to show but a large number of deaths and an even larger bill from the war.


Bin Laden was found and killed. More than 1,964 American service men and women have lost their lives in the conflict. Cost of the war is now over $527 billion.


According to the New York Times, more than two thirds of Americans took a poll and voted that the US Army should not be in Afghanistan. The government has a plan to keep troops there until 2014, but many Afghans are planning on leaving the country because of American actions on their home soil. After a U.S. Army sergeant slaughtered sixteen Afghans the President of Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai, demanded that the US pull their troops before the year is over. (CNN)


An article that I read in The Telegraph says that the president has ordered some of the troops to leave Afghanistan but many still remain. It is rumored that the president is only doing so because of the upcoming election. It is obvious that the war is a vacuum to our money as a nation. Some see this as the president’s way of convincing the nation that he is concerned with our money and is doing everything possible to protect it.

The president should pull US troops out of Afghanistan. We are in the midst of a depression and we are constantly spending billions of dollars on something that could potentially end whenever we decide to do so. More lives as well as money will be spent if we continue to harass a nation that is no longer threatening us.